A Unique Set of FeaturesThe only screen recorder designed for software testing.

Agile Software Development and BB TestAssistant Agile software development is all about rapid delivery, communication, and customer satisfaction. These aims are achieved via iterative development and end user involvement.

This means teams where end users, developers, and testers work more closely than is traditional, putting the emphasis on communication and shared knowledge. How does BB TestAssistant fit into this methodology?

Rapid delivery

Early and continuous testing is crucial to ensuring that the product meets customer’s requirements and Agile software development encourages both automated and manual testing.

Automated testing

There are many test automation tools available. They take care of routine regression testing, but often do a poor job of interpreting test results in the case of failure. When testing a GUI application, a video recording of failed test cases can be invaluable. BB TestAssistant can help:

It can be started and stopped from the command line or an ActiveX-based API and as a result, easily added into set-up and tear-down stages of each test. If a test fails, save the movie, otherwise, discard it.

Load on the CPU is minimised, to avoid causing performance problems.

The resulting movies are highly compressed, with a number of options to reduce file size.

Manual testing

In addition to scripted testing, Agile software development promotes both ad-hoc testing by customers and exploratory testing by skilled testers to find important bugs quickly. In this scenario, screen recording becomes even more important. It can remove the need to write down all the steps required to reproduce a problem and even opens the possibility of replacing written test cases with test case movies.

These features are particularly useful for ad-hoc testing:

Automatic import of PC configuration information and log files. The developer can view log files side by side with movie frames to see what was happening on-screen and internally at any time.

Quick and easy note-taking during recording.

Integration with popular bug tracking systems, JIRA and TRAC.

The ability to email a recording or upload it to a video sharing site.

Communication

Agile software testing relies on good communication between testers, developers and end-users, and by showing what was happening on-screen, BB TestAssistant can improve communication all round.

Customers and developers

Getting detailed problem reports from customers can be difficult. BB TestAssistant allows your customers to record issues and send you the movie. They can easily narrate and annotate the recording to provide a clear account of the defect or request.

Testers and developers

In Agile development, testers are an integrated and important part of the team. Their input is a valuable part of finding issues that are likely to cause problems for customers. In traditional software development, tester-developer communication is often via issue tracking systems and failed test scripts which are not suited to the shorter iterations, and techniques like exploratory testing, used in Agile development. Movies created with BB Test Assistant can convey a complex problem quickly.

Usability and Agile development

It is often recommended to perform usability testing in parallel with development or slightly in advance, so that when a developer starts implementing a new feature, some work has already been done on the user experience. Agile development, with its rapid iterations, requires that usability testing be fast and cheaply done. BB TestAssistant enables you to efficiently test prototypes on any computer with a webcam and a microphone:

Record screen activity — including all mouse clicks and keyboard events — to discover ways in which people actually interact with your software.

Record user’s voice and face to understand how they react to different circumstances.